Another point of view might be the 3 LH divisions will equally competitive and that the only reason why clubs are limited to 3 teams is to keep the big 2 from stacking the league with 30 teams. This gives all clubs an opportunity to play competitive soccer and earn a bye into LH.

I assume the '09s are no different than any other age group that has grown up in NTX soccer. The top 3-5 teams are above the rest of the NTX teams in terms of talent, size, and athletic ability. Teams 6-20 are relatively equal from a game statistics, size, talent, and athletic ability. The only difference may be bench strength.

Teams 21-40 are just about equal in every way.

I don't think any league is interested in catering to the top 3-5 teams. there is no money in it.

For all the teams that think you deserve to be in 1 league or another and can't get in because you are not the top 3 in your club, then I suggest you setup a lot of friendlies with your sister teams or go to a different club where you can be the top team.. Then you can play in LH academy if your team is good enough to make the top 30.

There is more to NTX soccer than the big 2.. Have been saying it for a long time.. Not saying anything negative towards the big 2 as every club has pros/cons. The red/white/blue team has amazing infrastructure and a ton of avenues for development as an example.

Just sayin there are a ton of options to consider from the mid bigs to the little bigs to the indies... check them out and make soccer great again in NTX

and if clubs would refrain from pooling all the academy players and playing only the best of the best in all the games on each of the teams each week to prop up each team FBR ranking then we would actually get some development outside the top 1% of the players in NTX.

This would make the classic leagues (boys and girls) job much easier because they could actually evaluate the team vs. tracking which ringer is playing on which team in which game on which day.

come on man... it's a tell tale sign when a player shows up 10 min before game time with food stuffed in her mouth, chugging an energy drink, and changing from one jersey to the next that she is not part of your team.. Mean while, the girls that are part of your team get to "develop" while watching the unicorn that you hope and pray will join your team play on the field...

Here's a shocker.. Unicorns can't be caught. They are using your team to get playing time, and when it's time to sign a contract they will mysteriously wind up on a top 3 team. All the time the unicorns spent helping you win hardware, your real players are sitting the bench.. When it's time for QT and you don't have that unicorn, you end up playing 2nd weekend fighting for that last D3 spot.

When teams start playing straight up, my guess is the leagues (PT, U90, BCL, LHGCL, etc) will evolve. The worst thing that ever happened to LHGCL was allowing CPP to include all field players and all age groups. I am a huge proponent of allowing CPP for a keeper in all age groups or allowing CPP for field players in the upper age groups (u17-u19).

There is absolutely no reason to have CPP for u11-u16 when roster sizes are big enough to accommodate for injuries.

I get what your saying and agree. The team should be the team and win or lose based on that teams ability. Not get propped up every week by some ringer that rotated through each team depending on the weeks opponent. That being said, there hasn’t been much sharing of players amongst teams in the 09 age group yet so I believe FBR is very accurate right now. Of course, that’s all about to change this fall I’m sure.

I agree with Eddy... the player sharing has been tame. The ringers that I know have been loyal so far so we have seen stability. I actually don’t think the ‘09 age group has many ringers. I do think player sharing is about to ramp up though.

The best players on Rush have never guest played that I know of and I think the rest of the top 5 teams are just good all around teams... not just one player centric.

TxF, as some have already said, the 09 group hasn't seen much of the player sharing activity up to this point. I know it happens with some teams where the same coach has two 09 teams, but I haven't noticed it among the more established, top teams and their other "sister" teams with different coaches. Are you saying that, in the first ever year of this junior classic league, you believe the player sharing will all of a sudden become a major factor among the bigger clubs? I understand how CPP works for the select teams, but this group still has one more year of academy.

If a coach has two 09 teams , there should be no reason to share players, unless the B team has a few players that are getting better and now are playing more with A team , and if a player on the A team is not getting done and gets sent to the B team to improve with more playing time..

Do I believe the top 5-7 are stable with minimal to no guesting? Absolutely.. Do I believe there is guesting going on with the rest of the teams? Absolutely there is guesting. That's the beauty of playing in 2 different leagues in academy.. You play the old academy league with your primary team and then Primetime is usually more competitive where the guest players show up. Many of the guests are not unicorns, but play on really good teams that aren't getting enough playing time. Either way, the coach is always trying to improve the team with the players on the team by adding better players to help develop the team, or add the 1 or 2 special players that will help him/her get ready for the next level.

My point is it may not be blatantly obvious, but it is happening in the '09s. I have seen it on the fields where a team is playing 7v7 with barely enough to play and then showing up the next day to play Primetime 9v9 with more than enough to play. I haven't completed the data analysis to see the scores between the teams that play multiple leagues, but I bet the data confirms my hypothesis and what I have personally observed.

History has shown that once you sign your contracts the player pool concept will begin especially with the bigs. It's all about getting players ready for the mandatory spots the clubs have to fill with DA/DA2/ECNL/ECNL2/ and to get as many byes as they can in LH so the mass player pool has somewhere to play when they don't make the elite leagues.

This process has it's pros/cons. It's good for the kids who are ready to take it to that level, good for the parents because you are seeing a lot of development/progress, and good for the clubs/coaches because they are building their base for 2 to 3 years out when the stakes go up to get kids ready for college showcases at U15. The con is it tends to diminish the team concept, and in my humble opinion is one of the reasons why you see player burnout around 15. This is especially true with girls because the team is the personal connection/social dynamics girls value more than boys. Kill the girls team and you kill the drive in the girl to want to put in the mass amount of time/effort to play at a high level. My advice is to ask as many u15-u18 players as you can for their perspective.

The last year of academy you will typically see a lot of change in the rosters typically towards the middle/end of the spring season and in many cases at the turn in November when tournament season starts up. Players want to make sure they are on a team that will qualify in D1 and get into JDL which is the feeder system to DA/ECNL.

I don't have a dog in the 09 hunt as both my girls are in high school (volleyball) and middle school (soccer). I am an active parent focused on helping parents make the best decisions for their DDs with factual information.

Do I believe the top 5-7 are stable with minimal to no guesting? Absolutely.. Do I believe there is guesting going on with the rest of the teams? Absolutely there is guesting. That's the beauty of playing in 2 different leagues in academy.. You play the old academy league with your primary team and then Primetime is usually more competitive where the guest players show up. Many of the guests are not unicorns, but play on really good teams that aren't getting enough playing time. Either way, the coach is always trying to improve the team with the players on the team by adding better players to help develop the team, or add the 1 or 2 special players that will help him/her get ready for the next level.

My point is it may not be blatantly obvious, but it is happening in the '09s. I have seen it on the fields where a team is playing 7v7 with barely enough to play and then showing up the next day to play Primetime 9v9 with more than enough to play. I haven't completed the data analysis to see the scores between the teams that play multiple leagues, but I bet the data confirms my hypothesis and what I have personally observed.

History has shown that once you sign your contracts the player pool concept will begin especially with the bigs. It's all about getting players ready for the mandatory spots the clubs have to fill with DA/DA2/ECNL/ECNL2/ and to get as many byes as they can in LH so the mass player pool has somewhere to play when they don't make the elite leagues.

This process has it's pros/cons. It's good for the kids who are ready to take it to that level, good for the parents because you are seeing a lot of development/progress, and good for the clubs/coaches because they are building their base for 2 to 3 years out when the stakes go up to get kids ready for college showcases at U15. The con is it tends to diminish the team concept, and in my humble opinion is one of the reasons why you see player burnout around 15. This is especially true with girls because the team is the personal connection/social dynamics girls value more than boys. Kill the girls team and you kill the drive in the girl to want to put in the mass amount of time/effort to play at a high level. My advice is to ask as many u15-u18 players as you can for their perspective.

The last year of academy you will typically see a lot of change in the rosters typically towards the middle/end of the spring season and in many cases at the turn in November when tournament season starts up. Players want to make sure they are on a team that will qualify in D1 and get into JDL which is the feeder system to DA/ECNL.

I don't have a dog in the 09 hunt as both my girls are in high school (volleyball) and middle school (soccer). I am an active parent focused on helping parents make the best decisions for their DDs with factual information.

Do I believe the top 5-7 are stable with minimal to no guesting? Absolutely.. Do I believe there is guesting going on with the rest of the teams? Absolutely there is guesting. That's the beauty of playing in 2 different leagues in academy.. You play the old academy league with your primary team and then Primetime is usually more competitive where the guest players show up. Many of the guests are not unicorns, but play on really good teams that aren't getting enough playing time. Either way, the coach is always trying to improve the team with the players on the team by adding better players to help develop the team, or add the 1 or 2 special players that will help him/her get ready for the next level.

My point is it may not be blatantly obvious, but it is happening in the '09s. I have seen it on the fields where a team is playing 7v7 with barely enough to play and then showing up the next day to play Primetime 9v9 with more than enough to play. I haven't completed the data analysis to see the scores between the teams that play multiple leagues, but I bet the data confirms my hypothesis and what I have personally observed.

History has shown that once you sign your contracts the player pool concept will begin especially with the bigs. It's all about getting players ready for the mandatory spots the clubs have to fill with DA/DA2/ECNL/ECNL2/ and to get as many byes as they can in LH so the mass player pool has somewhere to play when they don't make the elite leagues.

This process has it's pros/cons. It's good for the kids who are ready to take it to that level, good for the parents because you are seeing a lot of development/progress, and good for the clubs/coaches because they are building their base for 2 to 3 years out when the stakes go up to get kids ready for college showcases at U15. The con is it tends to diminish the team concept, and in my humble opinion is one of the reasons why you see player burnout around 15. This is especially true with girls because the team is the personal connection/social dynamics girls value more than boys. Kill the girls team and you kill the drive in the girl to want to put in the mass amount of time/effort to play at a high level. My advice is to ask as many u15-u18 players as you can for their perspective.

The last year of academy you will typically see a lot of change in the rosters typically towards the middle/end of the spring season and in many cases at the turn in November when tournament season starts up. Players want to make sure they are on a team that will qualify in D1 and get into JDL which is the feeder system to DA/ECNL.

I don't have a dog in the 09 hunt as both my girls are in high school (volleyball) and middle school (soccer). I am an active parent focused on helping parents make the best decisions for their DDs with factual information.

With the three per club limit, it will be interesting how far down the FBR they will go to get 30 teams. If I were an independent team ranked 35 or so, I am not sure I would volunteer (and pay) to play 3 or 4 top ten teams each season and another 3 or 4 of 11 through 20 just on the off chance of winning the group and getting the coveted bye. Better to play my peers somewhere else (that is also more flexible dealing with coaching conflicts and playing in tournaments). We will see, hopefully tomorrow.